Seeing People, the Way God Sees People

November 18, 2024

Jenna loved her job, but she didn’t love Maxine the liar. Maxine would tell lies about Jenna’s work, the way she treated people, even Jenna’s private life. One day, her devotional scripture was “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). So, she started trying to love Maxine. It only seemed to make things worse and Maxine was angrier. Then she started praying for Maxine, and God whispered to her soul something she never expected, “I have sent Maxine into your life to teach you how to deal with difficult people.”

This changed everything about how Jenna looked at Maxine. First, she started to think of Maxine as a gift from God. This took some time, but it changed her whole attitude and way she interacted with Maxine. She tried to see Maxine the way she thought God saw her. Then, she realized that Maxine was struggling with big things in her personal life. Finally, she saw gifts and abilities that she had never noticed before. She began to care about Maxine’s well-being because God cared, and these concerns filled her prayers.

Her prayers became full of wisdom from God, who led her to set up boundaries. God showed Jenna how she could casually get others to help Maxine or involve Maxine in things Maxine was good at, and it began to change Maxine positively. As Maxine got healthier she lashed out at Jenna less. A few weeks later the lies had stopped. Jenna and Maxine were never friends, but Jenna knew she was forever changed by Maxine. God had used Maxine to teach Jenna how to love her enemies and pray for her persecutors. She became very good at seeing people the way God saw them.

One of the big things she realized is that most people really don’t want to be toxic. That when life is hard and not fair, people struggle, lash out, and aren’t themselves. When she read Paul’s words from Ephesians 6:10-18 about the Armor of God, a new verse jumped off the page. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). She realized that when she was attacked by the forces of darkness when she tried to serve the Lord she was not always the most pleasant person either. God gave her the ability to see more clearly the evil hand of satan playing a role in their struggles. It began to change the way she loved and prayed for Maxine, but all people in her life.

Loving and seeing people as God loves and sees people is probably one of the hardest things we can learn to do in our faith journey. It is easier to judge people for how nice they are to us, whether they can help us in some way, whether they are easy to love, or some other way we judge people to decide if we want them to be friends, acquaintances, or kept at safe boundaries.

I believe God is trying to teach all of us to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors. Do you know what you need for God to teach you this lesson? More enemies! I find that God can often teach this lesson best in His church. But we church folk don’t respond very well to God’s choice. Has a church member ever said anything bad to you? Of course, they have. Have you ever quit the church because of it? I hope not, but most do. This can be a dangerous move on our part because God is more concerned about teaching us to love enemies than be comfortable, and the church is the safest place to do that. If you won’t learn from fellow Christians who really don’t desire to hurt your life and crush your soul, then God has to find people in your workplace, neighborhood, or community. I hope that gives you a reason not to quit the church when you don’t like someone.

Toxic people that make our lives difficult come and go. Have you ever wondered if they were sent by God to teach us how to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors? Have you ever quit the church because of a “hypocritical Christian”? Are you struggling with someone like Maxine right now? Can you look at them and see them as God does? Do you believe that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the dark forces of this present age? I hope these thoughts help you see people differently. Praise the Lord!